Sheet-metal-folding machine.



M. E. HASTINGS.

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APPLICATION f|LD MAY 29, 195. 1,205,621 Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

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M. E HASTINGS. SHEET M'EIAL FOLDING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED MAY 29, I915.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

MATTHEW E. HASTINGS, OF NEW YORK MILLS, NEW YORK.

SHEET-METAL-FOLDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

Application filed May' 29, 1915. Serial No. 31,305.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that. I, MATTHEW E. HAS- TINGS, of New York Mills, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet Metal Folding Machines;

Patent of the United States, No. 485,192

granted to me November 1, 1892.

The purpose of my present invention is to provide a machine of the character described which will embody improvements which tend to make the machine more efficient and of greater use.

A further object of my inventionis to provide a machine of the character described wherein means are provided for looking together, preferably in an automatic manner, the halved-bearings in which are mounted the turning-brakes so that the folds may be made in the edges of the sheet metal in better form and with greater regularity and a ccurateness.

A still further purpose of this invention is to provide in combination with such a machine, improved means for moving the Presser-plate downwardly toward and backward from' the table. 7

Yet another purposeof the invention is to provide in combination with a machine of the character described, an improved form of turning-brakes well adapted to admit of the machine being used in a variety of ways and to be readily adjusted from one class of work to another. Further advantages and purposes of my present invention will appear from the specification and clainis herein.

Figure l is a front elevation of a machine embodying' my invention with one set of the turning-brakes removed, the pre'sserplate being in raised position. Fig. 2 is a top view of the machine with all the brakes inp'laceand with the Dress'er-plate in downward position. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the machine as seen from the left-hand. end

of Fig. 1, the presser-plate being in raised position and with the near turning-brake removed. Fig. 4 is a perpendicular sectional view on line H of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale of the table and presser-plate, with the resser-plate inraised position. Fig. 5 is a similar view on line 5+5 of Fig. 2 with the'presser-plate in lowered position and the turning-brakes and their operating means in the position they occupy before the brakes have been turned at all.

Fig. 6

is a similar view of one edge of the table when the turning-brake has made one-half of its motion. Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5 after the turnin -brakes have completed their motion; Figs. 8 and 9 are plan and side views respectively of a modified form of the turning-brakes. Fig. 10 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation of the head and stem housed therein which projects upwardly from the presser-plate, the parts be ing in the position they occupy when the presser-plate is raised. Fig. 11 is a similar view showing the parts in the, position they assume when the presser-plate is lowered. F 1g. 12 1s aview partly in vertical section and partly in side elevationof the said head and its attached parts, the said view being taken one-quarter of the way around from the view shown inFig. 10.

Referring to the drawings in a more particular description: there is shown a sheet metal folding machine having a frame 1 supporting a table 2 andalso supporting upwardly projecting and curved armsB- tion over the table 2. A presser-plate 5 is provided above the table and of the size of the table and'supported thereabove by an which carrv the head 4 in a depending posi-' upwardly projecting stem 6 movably secured in the diagonally arranged head i by means of a plurality of links 7 pivotally secured at one end 8 to said stem 6, while at'9 and 13 respectively the said links are pivotally connected to the front 10 and back 1'1 of said head 4: Preferably beyond their pivotal connection to the said head, the links 7 are extended to a. similar length and turned down at an angle and then connected at said ends to each other by their extending ends being pivotally connected to con necting rod 12, the opposite ends-of which are forked to receive therebetween said extended ends of links 7 and afford a good opportunity for said pivotal connections.

The pivotal connection of the lower link 7 to the head i is made by a shaft 13 rigidly secured to said link and projecting without the head 4; and there provided with a radially extending handle 1 1 by the manipulation of which the presser-head may be raised or lowered in an obvious manner. A spring 15 attached to the upper end of stem 6 and secured adjustably to the top of said head. as by being attached to the lower end of a hook 35 loosely mounted in the top of the head and which hook is threaded to receive above the head the winged nut 86, is tensioned to carry and hold the stem 6 and therewith the presser-plate 5 to upward position against the weight of the said parts. Assuming the handle 14 to be arranged as in Figs. 1, :2 and 10 of the drawings a downward movement thereoi will move the presser-plate downwardly and then to the side. as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 10. until the parts come to the position shown in Fig. 11. In this position the ends of links 7 have moved sufliciently past the pivoting points 9 and 13 of said links and head as to prevent the spring 15 from drawing the presser-plate upwardly.

Uppositely disposed upon the edges of the table 2 and presser-plate are halved-bearings 16 and 1'? respectively, which. when the presser-plate is brought to lowered position, cooperate to form a full bearing for the rotation. therein of the turning brakes 18, one at each side and at each end of a four-edge folding machine. The machine illustrated in the drawings is especially adapted to told one side and one end edge of the sheet of metal downwardly and the other side and end edges upwardly as is common for preparing metal roofing and similar articles. In the machine illustrated the turning-b 'ake 18 at the right end of the machine and the turning-brake at the front side of the machine are mounted in the halved-bearing 17 in the presser-plate, while the opposite turning-brakes are mounted in the halved-bearings 16 upon the table 2. Upon each of the turning-brakes 18 mounted in the presserplate is secured an arm 19 having a segmental-shaped end and a handle 20. From the segmental-shaped end of arm 191 chain 2-1 extends to a segmental-shaped end of arm 22 secured to the oppositely located turningbrake; that is a turning-brake located in the lower or table-mounted halved-bearings 16. It will be obvious that a turning motion imparted to arm 19 by handle 20 will be communicated through chain 21 to segmentalended arm 22 and thereby oppositely disposed turning-brakes moved at one operation. Upon the lower arms 22 are provided weights 23 tending to withdraw the chainconnected turning-brakes to their original position as soon as pressure is withdrawn from the handle 20.

One of the disadvantages of machines of this character heretofore has been that the halved-bearings did not lock together in a rigid manner when the presser-plate descended and so allowed slight looseness of motion in the turning-brakes which resulted in poor work being done and inaccurate folds being made in the sheet metal 28. To overcome this disadvantage I provide cooperating halved-bearings withinterlocking projections so that as the presser-plate 5 descends with a downward and sidewise motion said oppositely disposed projections interlock and securely hold the halved-bearings rigidly together as long as the presserplate is in downwardposition. A convenient form of suchinterlocking means is to I provide on one halved-bearing of each cooperating pair, an outwardly projecting lug i l adapted to enter recess 52-5 provided in outwardly projecting bracket 26 on the other halved-bearing leaving an inwardly projecting shoulder 27. This arrangement of parts as will be readily seen from the drawings herein securely locks each cooperating pair of halved-bearings as soon as the presserplate is moved to downward position and keeps them so locked during the folding operation by the turning-brakes and readily unlocks upon the pressenplate being raised again to upward position.

It will be seen that the arc-like path of motion of the presser-plate 5 in its downward and gradually-increasing sidewise movement toward the table 2 due to the mounting of stem 6 upon the pivoting arms 7 is peculiarly well adapted to effect the interlocking engagement of the lugs 9A into the recesses 25 or with the overhanging in wardly projecting shoulders 27. The sidewise movement of presser-plate 5 relative to table 2 is diagonal due to head 4 being mounted diagonally as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3 so that the presser-plate is moved from the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 to the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 2 during the downward movement of the presser-plate. Upon upward movement the plate is moved from its full line position as shown in Fig. 2 to the dotted line position. This diagonal movement operates to effect the locking engagement of the cooperating pairs of halved-bearings on the front, the back and both ends of the machine.

It will be understood that when all four edges of the sheet metal 28 are to be folded the corners of the sheet metal will be trimmed oii and that the ends of the turningbra-kes 18 will be V-shaped as shown in Fig. 2 and as shown at the left hand end of Fig. 8 in order to turn all edges of the sheet metal at the same time closely to each cor: ner. It is sometimes desired to fold only opposite sides or opposite ends of the sheet metal. For that purpose the turning-brakes that are not to be used are removed and the turning-brakes that are to be used need extensions at their ends in order to make them work to the extreme edge of the sheet metal. An improved form of turning-brake adapted for such interchanging work is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The turningbrakes are cut away at their ends toward their operating surface leaving an outwardly projecting shoulder 29 below the level of the working surface of the brake 18. Upon this shoulder and secured thereto as by screws 30 are detachably placed end pieces 31 with a V- shaped or wedge-shaped extremity where that sort of an end piece is desired and when the V-shaped end piece is not desired but a longer end piece, a longer rectangularshaped end piece 32 is used being fastened on to the shoulder in the same way by screw 30. The advantage of this construction is that the extra length used in the end piece 32 is rigid and able to bend the metal evenly to the extreme edge of the sheet metal due to the said end piece being so strongly supported upon the shoulder '29.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made from the specific constructions herein shown without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1'. The combination in a sheet-metal-folding machine of a table, a presser-plate adapted to descend upon the table, oppositely disposed halved-bearings at the edges of said table and of said presser plate, turning-brakes mounted in said halved bearings and means adapted to lock said halved bearings together when the presser plate is in lowered position.

2. The combination in a sheet-metal-folding machine of a table, a presser-plate adapted to descend upon the table, oppositely disposed halved bearings at the edges of said table and of said Presser-plate, turning-brakes mounted in said halved bearings and means adapted to automatically lock said halved bearings together presser-plate being lowered.

3. The combination in a sheet-metal-folding machine of a table, a presser-plate Conies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 0.

upon the adapted to descend upon the table with a downwardly and sidewise movement, oppositely disposed halved bearings at the edges of said table and of said presser-plate,turning-brakes mounted in said halved bearings and projections adjacent to said halved bearings on the table and on the presserplate adapted to interlock upon the presserplate being moved downwardly and side- \VlSe.

4c. The combination in a sheet-metal-folding machine of a table, a framework extending thereabove, a presser-plate adapted to descend upon the table and hold the sheet of metal placed thereon, a stem extending upwardly from said presser-plate and a plurality of links each pivotally connected to said stem ands-aid frame and adapted to allow said presser-plate to descend with a downward and sidewise movement.

5. The combination in a sheet-metal-folding machine of a table, a framework eXtending thereabove, a presser-plate adapted to descend upon the table and hold the sheet of metal placed thereon, a stem extending upwardly from said presser-plate, a plu rality of links each pivotally connected to said stem and said frame and adapted to allow said presser-plate to descend with a downward and sidewise movement, halvedbearings adjacent the edges of said table' and of said presser-plate, turning-brakes mounted therein and projections adjacent to said halvedv bearings adapted to interlock upon the presser plate being moved downwardly and sidewise.

6. The combination in a sheet-111etal-folding machine of a table, a presser-plate, turning-brakes working around the edges of the table, the ends of said brakes being cut away on their working surface leaving a project ing shoulder, and end pieces resting on said shoulders and detachably secured thereto whereby end pieces of different contour may be applied to the machine.

In witness whereof I have afiixed my sig nature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 13th day of May, 1915.

MATTHEVV E. HASTINGS.

Witnesses:

HARRIET WILLIAMS, S. E. Hooks.

Commissioner of Patents, 

